Metallic Contact between MoS2 and Ni via Au Nanoglue

Xinying Shi; Sergei Posysaev; Marko Huttula; Vladimir Pankratov; Joanna Hoszowska; Jean-Claude Dousse; Faisal Zeeshan; Yuran Niu; Alexei Zakharov; Taohai Li; Olga Miroshnichenko; Meng Zhang; Xiao Wang; Zhongjia Huang; Sami Saukko; Diego López González; Sebastiaan van Dijken; Matti Alatalo; Wei Cao

doi:10.1002/smll.201704526

Metallic Contact between MoS₂ and Ni via Au Nanoglue

Small. 2018 May;14(22):e1704526. doi: 10.1002/smll.201704526. Epub 2018 Apr 24.

Authors

Xinying Shi¹, Sergei Posysaev¹, Marko Huttula¹, Vladimir Pankratov¹, Joanna Hoszowska², Jean-Claude Dousse², Faisal Zeeshan², Yuran Niu³, Alexei Zakharov³, Taohai Li⁴, Olga Miroshnichenko¹, Meng Zhang⁵, Xiao Wang⁵, Zhongjia Huang⁶, Sami Saukko⁷, Diego López González⁸, Sebastiaan van Dijken⁸, Matti Alatalo¹, Wei Cao¹

Affiliations

¹ Nano and Molecular Systems Research Unit, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland.
² Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, Ch. du Musée 3, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland.
³ MAX IV Laboratory, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 22100, Lund, Sweden.
⁴ College of Chemistry, Key Lab of Environment Friendly Chemistry and Application in Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China.
⁵ Department of Physics, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
⁶ School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, 241000, China.
⁷ Center of Microscopy and Nanotechnology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 7150, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland.
⁸ NanoSpin, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 15100, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland.

PMID: 29687601
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201704526

Abstract

A critical factor for electronics based on inorganic layered crystals stems from the electrical contact mode between the semiconducting crystals and the metal counterparts in the electric circuit. Here, a materials tailoring strategy via nanocomposite decoration is carried out to reach metallic contact between MoS₂ matrix and transition metal nanoparticles. Nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs) are successfully joined to the sides of a layered MoS₂ crystal through gold nanobuffers, forming semiconducting and magnetic NiNPs@MoS₂ complexes. The intrinsic semiconducting property of MoS₂ remains unchanged, and it can be lowered to only few layers. Chemical bonding of the Ni to the MoS₂ host is verified by synchrotron radiation based photoemission electron microscopy, and further proved by first-principles calculations. Following the system's band alignment, new electron migration channels between metal and the semiconducting side contribute to the metallic contact mechanism, while semiconductor-metal heterojunctions enhance the photocatalytic ability.

Keywords: first-principles calculations; inorganic layered crystals; metal-semiconductor contact; synchrotron radiation.